Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125603
CrQ d ndMud ELSINORE, Cal., Feb. 9 - Nobody knew for SlII"e IDlt11 three days later, but the new computer scoring system ttna1lY came up with Gunnar Undstrom as overall beavywe1gbt winner of the Elslnore Grand Pril<. He rode a 360Cc HusqvartllL. That man on the track with the sign "Wipe Your Plates" was trying to make 1t easier for the automatic camera to get laP lnformat1oo. Last year, the little ladies with their pencils tried to keep up with the over 500 bikes In eacb race. This year there were even more bikes, both for the Ugbtweigbt race saturday and the beavyweigbt race Sunday, so the Gripsters M.C. set up the camera and rented time on a computer. By next week we'll bave the ligbtweigbt results, and full coverage on that race. Family day at Elsinore Graad Prill 1171.: rr.. dirt onto , _ a t aod back apln. A pd race, 011 the wIlolL EverybodY day at EI slnore t E stnore TriUllQlb took ooe-two-tIIree k1eechof tile three open classes: expert, amateur and IlOYice, with Mike Baaey, R. Forrest aDd D. McDoaald riding. The race was d1tf1cult for two reasoos • _ the loog mileS of deep mud in tile tack course, aDd the crowd in the streets 01. Elsinore that always threatened to spread inward, Uke a telecOPing tunnel, discouraging riders from passing or sweeping wide on the curves. The faces of the riders looked strained as they came by. You could this even througb the mud caked on their faces, with boles for eyes aDd teeth like coal miners after a cave-in. The leathers and machines were brown with the mud, even wbere the colors bad been so brigbt before that you thougbt they couldn't be dulled. The riders were tired. Many weren't going all out; maybe it was because they were resting after the rWl througb the mUd, or maybe they'd seen too many quick figures darting across the street course. Past where we were standing, the bikes turned sharply in the dirt between two trees, or swept wide aroWld them. After 200 yards of dirt there was pavement aga1n, and a right turn over railway tracks. Bet wee n here and the long stretches of dirt and mud there was only one curve, so riders who had the power turned 1t on, and did wheelies over the next gentle hill. The mud was of the legendary variety. In the back course there was red mud so deep you just couldn't get out without helP, if you got stuck. All day long the four- wbeel drive vehicles and dune buggies pulled out bikes, and wbere they couldn't get to this was done by many pairs of bare hands. Probably only one rider in four got through the 12 laps. Back by the river, after the fifth lap, there were about 30 riders just standing aroWld by bikes that wouldn't start. One person in the crowd was hit, a girl who ran across the street near the hotel. In front of a rider who couldn't avoid her. They red-flagged the race and pulled ber to the side of the road where she lay very still Wltil an ambulance came' but at the hospital sbe refused to be tr'eated and just drove borne with her husband. (Res ults on page 16)